Amanda>> I'm so pleased today that
I'm speaking with Bill Guess, who is the
General Manager of BB Barns, which was
formerly >> Willie's Garden Center.
We're now BB Barns. We have two locations,
one in Irmo and one in northeast
and I'm the manager at the northeast store.
Amanda>> Okay, and although y'all have everything in the
sun out there, today, we're particularly
going to talk about house plants.
Bill>> House plants, tropicals.
We've got a whole selection here,
Amanda>> And we've all been - These are fun to
talk about because everybody's been so
stressed about getting their yard watered
because we've had periods where we didn't
get any rain. One nice thing about houseplants
is they don't need - you don't have to be quite
so worried about getting them watered,
Bill>> and you can enjoy them even when it's hot outside.
Amanda>> Yeah, well, let's start down here
with something that you said are super easy.
Bill>> These are the easiest houseplants
that you can really get. These are commonly
known as snake plants. You can see they're
kind of snake looking. They don't need much light.
They don't need much water, and they
can stay in a pot for a very, very long time.
Amanda>> Even if it's - I've got one that looks,
I've just been worried and worried
like it needs to be separated.
Bill>> They do not mind being root bound.
They really like it. If you look at this one
really close, you can kind of see where it's
starting to bulge the pot out. >> Oh look,
>> That's perfectly fine. I do not re-pot mine
until they are busting the pot out. >> Wow.
Bill>> They are perfectly happy,
being just really tight in there.
Amanda>> And how much water?
Bill>> Very rarely, it kind of depends on how much
light you're giving them, but mine at home,
I only water him on holidays, they get
water at Christmas, and Fourth of July,
and Easter. If it's a holiday, I may give it
a little bit of water
but basically they're on their own.
Amanda>> Okay, and I guess the soil gets so dry that
you really need to let the water put it like
in the kitchen sink and let it drip on it
or something so that it can really absorb the water
and rehydrate the soil.
Bill>> When I do water them, I water them three times.
You water once to sort of get the soil going,
and another time another time to make sure
it does get wet when you water it,
but then I a very long time until the next watering.
Amanda>> Okay, and this one, the color is so beautiful.
>> So, these are only three different ones
of the same plant, but you know there are hundreds
of snake plants that all have basically
the same characteristics, and they all are very
easy to maintain.
Amanda>> I think you did a real nice job matching
this plant with that kind of
glaucous leaf with this. Bill>> With the blue. Yeah.
Amanda>> That's really handsome. I like that a lot.
Okay, Snake plants, we're not going to worry about you.
Bill>> You don't need to worry about those.
We also have a Euphorbia.
This is a milk cactus. Also, another plant that can
go a long time without watering.
This was my first house plant as a kid,
my mother gave me her house plants when I was 11
and gave me a book and one of these
and I grew it from something about this size
to about a six foot tall plant over the years.
Amanda>> This one the color is very unusual.
Bill>> The color will vary. This one has been in a
lot of bright light, so it turns red and pink.
If it has a little bit less light, it may be
more green, and also sometimes in less light
you'll get some leaves that actually form on it also.
Amanda>> My goodness, and if it gets too tall for your space,
if you had it at your desk at work, can you cut it?
Bill>> You absolutely can cut it. When you cut it,
you would want to leave it just laying on a paper
towel or something for a few days and let it scale,
a scab, form on it, and then you would
just be able to stick it right back in some soil
it would put out roots
and you'd have another new plant.
Amanda>> All right, and with light you said, it can vary
how much they need. I doubt if any of them
want to have the sun blazing on them through
a window, that would been too much,
Bill>> He would be able to take that.
It's one of the few - some of the succulents
can take that direct light, and he would be okay with that.
Amanda>> Okay.
Bill>> He actually can go outside for the summer,
>> Oh, really >> and be perfectly happy.
Amanda>> Okay. Now these fellows are tropical.
Bill>> Tropical. These are all bromeliads,
all three plants across here are all bromeliads.
They would grow up in a tree,
maybe where the trunk and limb intersect
leaves and different things fall in there,
and that's where they would normally grow is
in that leaf matter. So, they're normally up in the air.
Amanda>> They get all their water.
These leaves capture the water.
Bill>> A lot of the water that they use does wind up
down in the middle, and this is also a source,
they have little African tree frogs that
will live down in that little water source.
They will actually have their tadpoles down in
that water source, because they are in a
rainforest where it's constantly,
Amanda>> This is the whole environment for that, for that.
Bill>> That fern >> That animal.
That's just the loveliest story. Bill>> Up in a tree.
>> Wow, >> And even this one is the same,
>> This looks so different.
Bill>> Quite a bit different, but in that same family.
Amanda>> And this one has flowers on it. Quite lovely.
Bill>> The blooms are beautiful on this one and yellow.
Many of them bloom just down inside.
Some have spikes that stick up out of them,
but this one has a beautiful yellow flower.
Amanda>> And this fellow hadn't seen dirt
since the beginning of time?
>> No soil. This one, you would take him and put him
in the shower or put them in your sink,
hose them off, go get them nice and wet,
and then put him back on his little log,
and he's perfectly happy just to live like that.
Amanda>> That is truly amazing, and even the container.
Tell me about this fascinating container.
Bill>> This is a trunk from a cactus and these
little holes around the outside are where their
spines would come out, and as they naturally die,
they cut them into pieces and they make lovely,
you know, holders for these kind of bromeliads.
Amanda>> That's really fun. This is just
that's one of the coolest things I've ever seen,
except for the frogs being in
and tadpoles swimming around. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. We talked a little bit earlier, this is
something that's really fun.
Bill>> So mother of thousands, or mother of millions.
It's a Kalanchoe, and what happens
with these guys is their propagation method,
they form little tiny baby plants
at the ends of their leaves here.
Amanda>> At first, I thought these were flowers,
but actually it is a plant.
Bill>> It's a whole 'nother little baby plant,
and so when you have this growing
on the ground underneath it,
you will see hundreds of little baby plants growing
underneath there, and I took - this is a very low
water plant, and I took some of those little babies
and dropped them in this bottle,
and I water them very sparingly. This is sort
of an experiment.
Amanda>> Now, this was from a different cultivar than this.
Bill>> Similar. This is another similar plant. >> Okay.
>> This one and this one are the same,
Amanda>> Which is to believe. So, you've got some
of the little tiny, tiny, tiny things that
were ready and put just a drop of soil in there
and dropped them in there?
Bill>> Correct, seven years ago. So I only
water these maybe once a year, twice a year,
something like that Amanda>> Come on.
Bill>> But they're able to survive and they they've done
quite well. I'm pushing them to the limit
of their capability, but this is a prime example
really, of things need to dry out.
We see probably the most common problem that we
see is over-watering in house plants.
The environment in your house is not exactly
pulling moisture out of the air.
You're not having as much sun, you tend to over water.
Most things you want to at least, at the very least,
feel the top of the soil and make sure it's dry
before you water it again.
Amanda>> And so this and this are the same cultivars?
Bill>> Same plant, same exact plant. I believe
they're from the same mother, and this one
I did water. This one, I did not water.
Amanda>> But how often do you water this fellow?
Bill>> He gets a lot of water,
maybe once every three months.
(laughs)
Amanda>> That is just way too cool.
Now, will he start to make some little babies some day.
Bill>> He does have a couple of little babies on there
that may have fallen off. He also will just
start shooting out roots. >> I saw that.
>> where he lays down. It's a very tough plant.
He's ready to grow anywhere you give him a chance.
Amanda>> Whatever circumstance Bill>> Yeah.
Amanda>> Cool. Now, you said, this peace
plant is probably the most, the...
Bill>> The most common. This is one of
the most common plants that you're going to see
out there anywhere, and he would be more on the
moist side, we'd like a little bit more water
but also needs to dry out,
Amanda>> I'm going to turn it back because this
spathe and spadix is such a handsome,
beautiful structure
Bill>> Its gorgeous, and they keep
putting these out, we want to cut these off
as soon as they look bad. It will help encourage it
to put out new ones, and these
will actually tell you when they need water.
When they're growing and they're perfectly
well watered, their little points,
of their leaves are straight up. As they dry out,
they will kind of curl over. As soon as they hit
that curling over point. That's when
you want to water.
Amanda>> And you said this one actually uses
gets water, more than a lot of other house plants.
Bill>> More than a lot of other ones.
It uses a fair amount of water, and he doesn't
want to go quite as dry as some of these other
things that we've been looking at.
Amanda>> And you said, if you go, if you miss
that point, and it gets to that point,
they - it takes a good while to recover.
Bill>> It does, they can go completely flat.
They will lay out completely flat.
You'll water them and they'll stand back up,
but it's stressful.
So you may not get blooms after something like that.
It takes a while for it to recover.
That point is where we want to be.
It's just a little dry.
So, ficus tree, Ficus Benjamina is another one
of those very, very widely distributed house plant.
You'll see it in every mall, every,
Amanda>> That does not look like something I've seen...
Bill>> This one has been grown to be variegated.
It's also the tip of the leaf
doesn't come to a point. It's kind of rounded it off.
This is Ficus Triangularis, because
the leaves are triangle shaped. Again, kind of
one of those things where when they keep
looking for something different and they'll
select for a certain trait, and keep
selecting for that trait until you end up
with what looks like basically a completely different plant.
Amanda>> That's quite fascinating.
Bill>> It's the neatest, Ficus Benjamina I know.
Amanda>> Low light? Bill>> It can go into
some lower light, but he will be happier and bright,
indirect light, and they're, known for being finicky.
If you move them, they might drop a few leaves,
and then you don't stress out about that.
Let it realize where it's living, but every time
you move around, I'm going to take him back
and he's probably going to lose a few leaves
when I take him back.
Amanda>> Okay, he's a real homebody.
He likes his own spot. Bill>> So true.
Amanda>> Then next to it. Bill>> That's a philodendron.
That's a Monstera. Everybody's into Monstera.
You can get T-shirts and bumper stickers
and you'll see it all over the Internet.
Everybody is very thrilled about Monstera.
Why? Because it's just a great plant.
It's super easy to grow. You've got
these cut leaves in it, And if you ever make it
down to like South Florida, you'll see
them growing right up the side have a tree,
Amanda>> Really? Bill>> and they can have leaves
up to two or three feet around, but it makes a great
house plant. He's fairly easy to maintain.
Just let them dry out a little bit.
Again, one of those things, don't over water it.
He needs to dry out a little bit.
Amanda>> If it starts getting tall, do you need
to give it a support sometimes?
Bill>> They absolutely need a support.
He does not make a true, so he needs something to lean on
a stick or a pole or something along those lines.
Amanda>> Well, they're all kinds of y'all probably
have stakes. Yeah, pretty things, Bill>> Absolutely.
Amanda>> rather than just a plain
Bill>> Absolutely.
You'll see I saw somebody come in to work
the other day with Monstera earrings on.
So they're very, very popular. They're very, very...
Amanda>> And then you said, you know since
these are in the house, and people have
children or dogs now. I guess everyone has dogs and cats
and says oh what about things being poisonous,
and normally, I mean everything if you eat enough
that you'd have to eat like bushels and bushels
of these things to get toxic levels,
but you said this last plant which is very attractive,
you do actually warn people about
Bill>> That's a dieffenbachia
and its other name is dumb cane and it can
affect your vocal cords and it can make you
where you can't speak.
So we talked about what plants are toxic.
Most of them simply aren't that toxic.
This one, we do want to make sure
that we are careful that you're not letting
kids play with it. Dogs play with it, and if
you're doing pruning and stuff,
maybe don't lick your fingers.
Amanda>> Be careful. Yeah, well, what else?
What are the good attributes?
Bill>> The good attributes is that it
will grow in a variety of conditions.
The leaf coloration, we have probably eight
different ones, with like bingo stripes
and dots in solid greens
You can see the dots on this one,
and that does have a trunk.
So he can grow straight up with a solid trunk
and maintain his own,
Amanda>> So, if you want that look,
this is a good plant for that.
Bill>> He's a great plant, and they've been around
for years and years. This is probably
one of the first house plants. So, even back in
the 60s, 50s, dieffenbachia were a house plant,
Amanda>> Which probably means that pretty easy
>> They've been around, they stayed around
because they're popular and easy.
Amanda>> Okay, well, I just am fascinated,
and a few of them can go outside in the summer,
but most of them don't want that much light.
Bill>> Correct. So, they all could go outside.
They all were outside somewhere. >> Oh, that's true.
So if you had a bromeliad,
he would want to be in the shade outside. >> Sure, okay.
>> The Euphorbia could go out into almost full sun.
These guys can go out in the full sun also.
Amanda>> But they're going to get a lot more rain,
and they might grow a lot faster,
and then you might have to re-pot them.
Bill>> And there's bug issues. There's a lot of issues,
and probably the bigger issue is transition.
So if you've had this inside all winter,
and you put them out for spring,
he can burn just like you going to the beach
for the first time. You want to be very careful
transitioning them out, and then also bringing
them inside for the winter.
You could be bringing bugs that were sort of naturally
under control outside. Once you bring it inside,
there's no natural enemies, and all of a
sudden you're having a bug infestation.
Amanda>> I think a lot of people get a hose
with a wand on it and wash it off outside,
kind of you know, hold it upside down and wash,
wash, wash, wash. >> Absolutely.
Amanda>> Before they bring them in.
Bill, I've just had such a good time
learning about all of this, and if people
want to see you, where's your location again,
Bill>> We're on Two Notch Road.
Right near Brickyard Road.
Amanda>> And I guess you've got websites
and all that kind of stuff.
Bill>> BB Barns.com, and you can find both locations there,
our hours and ask us any
questions that you might have.
Amanda>> Okay, well, thank you so very much
for sharing this information. Bill>> Thank you.